Nikon Coolpix P1000 shoots for the moon with 3000mm equiv. zoom

If the 24-2000mm equivalent lens on the Nikon Coolpix P900 wasn't enough for you, then we bring good news: Nikon has announced its Coolpix P1000, which brings the telephoto end up to a once unthinkable 3000mm equiv. The lens has a maximum aperture of F2.8-8, compared to F2.8-6.5 on the P900, and has both ED and Super ED elements. This monster of a lens accepts 77mm filters and has two zoom speeds.

The P1000 has dedicated moon and bird positions on the mode dial

If you use Nikon's 'Dynamic Fine Zoom' feature, the equivalent focal length rises to 6000mm (with some loss in image quality). Still not enough? If, for some reason, you need 12000mm of reach and don't mind a substantial loss in image quality, you can use the camera's 4X digital zoom. If you're wondering just how large this camera is, it's roughly 360mm / 14" long with the lens extended and weighs in at a whopping 1.4kg / 3.1lbs.

As with its predecessor, the P1000 has a 16MP, 1/2.3" sensor that offers an ISO range of 100-6400, along with Raw support, which wasn't found on the P900 and represents a welcome addition. It can shoot continuously at 7 fps, but only for 7 shots. In a nod to its potential use cases, the P1000 has dedicated moon and bird positions on the mode dial. Photos and movies can be compared on a fully articulating LCD (which is not touch-enabled) or an 2.36M-dot OLED viewfinder.

The P1000 can also capture 4K/UHD video at 30p or 25p as well as 1080p from 60 fps down to 25 fps. The camera has a external mic input and offers manual exposure controls and clean HDMI output.

Wireless features include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and the camera can be controlled via your smartphone, the new ML-L7 Bluetooth remote or the MC-DC2 wired shutter release. Battery life is rated at 250 shots per charge.

The Nikon Coolpix P1000 will be available in September for $999.

Official samples

Press Release

THE SUPERZOOM COOLPIX P1000 OFFERS AN ASTOUNDING 125X ZOOM TO CAPTURE YOUR WORLD AND BEYOND

MELVILLE, NY (JULY 10, 2018 AT 12:01 A.M. EDT) – Today, Nikon Inc. announced the COOLPIX P1000, the new undisputed powerhouse of superzooms. With an incredible 125X optical zoom (24-3000mm equivalent) powered by high performance NIKKOR optics; the P1000 is the ideal companion camera for birding, sports, wildlife and celestial-photographers seeking superior performance from extreme distances. Beyond its incredible zoom range, the versatile 16-megapixel COOLPIX P1000 captures 4K UHD video and offers a myriad of manual controls, as well as user-friendly functions including built-in Wi-Fi1 and Bluetooth2 connectivity, letting photographers of all levels explore and share their creativity.

“The COOLPIX P1000 is the first of its kind for a compact digital camera,” said Jay Vannatter, Executive Vice President, Nikon Inc. “It raises the bar for superzoom cameras and is a testament to our commitment to delivering innovative tools that offer creative freedom to capture and allow users to share their unique visions of the world.”

Powerful Optics go the Distance

The COOLPIX P1000 incorporates state-of-the-art NIKKOR technology, designed with ED and Super ED lens elements, boasts the world’s most powerful3 125X optical zoom lens (24-3000mm f/2.8-8) and 250X Dynamic Fine Zoom4, equivalent to a staggering 6000mm from macro to extreme distances. This powerful zoom range gives the P1000 the versatility to chronicle an adventure filled vacation, capture a favorite ballplayer from the top tier of a stadium or fill the frame with celestial objects like the moon, that normally only a telescope could reach.

To handle such extreme distances, the camera is equipped with the latest Nikon EXPEED image processing system and Dual Detect Optical VR technology for 5-stops5 of camera shake compensation that help capture sharp images and reduce blur. Featuring a 16-megapixel back-side illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor and expanded ISO range up to 6400, the P1000 affords users the versatility to capture superior image quality even under challenging lighting conditions. The COOLPIX P1000 also boasts a variety of high-speed features including a quick start-up and fast Autofocus (AF) system, making it an ideal choice for capturing action from the sidelines of your kid’s soccer game or from an adventure-packed safari. Additionally, whether capturing a ballplayer sliding into home plate or photographing a bird in flight from afar, users will feel confident finding, tracking and capturing these far-away subjects using the camera’s snap-back zoom feature which temporarily expands the field of view for super-telephoto shots.

Versatility Ignites Creativity

The COOLPIX P1000 makes it easier than ever for photographers to express their personal creativity. Through its host of manual functions and RAW (NRW) image output, the P1000 is great for advanced users seeking precise control from point of capture to post-production. The COOLPIX P1000 offers an innovative control layout complete with a function button, command dial and mode dial to bring frequently used functions to a photographer’s fingertips.

Additionally, the camera includes a focus mode selector that can be used to change the focus mode and a control ring that allows for the adjustment of settings such as the white balance and manual focus. Photographers will find the camera’s built-in 2.3-million dot OLED electronic viewfinder (EVF) helpful when composing their shot, while the Vari-Angle 3.2-inch 921K-dot TFT LCD display is ideal for capturing challenging angles like framing a performer on a concert stage.

The COOLPIX P1000 offers numerous picture controls, creative modes and filter effects to help photographers bring their creative vision to life. Whether capturing the night sky or a bird perched on a tree branch, users can take advantage of the camera’s designated scene modes, such as Moon Mode and Bird Watching Mode, to automatically adjust settings to deliver brilliant results in a variety of environments. While amazing for extreme zoom, the COOLPIX P1000 also supports versatile shooting scenarios like capturing macro images from as close as 1 cm away. Beyond mastering still photography from both near and far, the P1000 is also capable of incredible 4K UHD video with stereo audio recording and time-lapse effects to further expand artistic expression. Lastly, with built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, images will transfer automatically to a photographer’s compatible mobile device so family and friends can view stunning vacation moments or epic shots of the night sky in real time.

New Accessory: Bluetooth Connected Remote

The new COOLPIX P1000 is equipped with an accessory terminal and an accessory shoe that supports a wide variety of compatible devices, including external Nikon Speedlights. To bring more capabilities and creative control to photographers, Nikon also announced the new ML-L7 Bluetooth connected remote as another optional accessory available for the COOLPIX P1000. The ML-L7 Bluetooth connected remote control expands the shooting possibilities of the P1000 by enabling users to trigger various camera functions, including video start and smooth zoom control, remotely.

Price and Availability

The COOLPIX P1000 will have a suggested retail price (SRP) of $999.95* and will be available in September 2018. The new ML-L7 Bluetooth connected remote control will also be available in September 2018 for a SRP of $49.95*. For more information on COOLPIX P1000 and other Nikon products, please visit www.nikonusa.com.

1. This camera’s built-in Wi-Fi® capability can only be used with a compatible iPhone®, iPad®, and/or iPod touch® or smart devices running on the Android™ operating system. The Nikon SnapBridge application must be installed on the device before it can be used with this camera.

2. The camera’s built-in Bluetooth® capability can only be used to connect the camera to a compatible smart device running the SnapBridge app, and to take advantage of SnapBridge features. The Nikon SnapBridge application must be installed on the device before it can be used with this camera.

Using the SnapBridge App System Requirements:

Android 5.0 or later or 6.0.1 or later

A device with Bluetooth 4.0 or later (i.e., a device that supports Bluetooth Smart Ready/Low Energy) is required.

The SnapBridge app is available for compatible iPhone®, iPad® and/or iPod touch®, and for smart devices running the AndroidTM operating system. The app can be downloaded free of charge from Apple’s App Store® and GooglePlayTM. Nikon SnapBridge can be used only with compatible cameras.

3. Among compact digital cameras available as of July 10, 2018. Statement based on Nikon research.

4. At the maximum image size. The maximum zoom ratio varies by image size. The zoom ratio indicated for Dynamic Fine Zoom is the combined ratio of optical zoom from the maximum wide-angle position and digital zoom.

Comments

No GPS is really a deal breaker, esp after Nikon gave GPS tagging in P900 and then come up with one without it. Linking to a smartphone with Bluetooth o r WiFi doesn't work smoothly. In fact, Nikon has a lot to learn to make that happen smoothly and easily.

It's a good thing it doesn't have a 1" sensor or i'd be sorely tempted. This I hope is NOT the tack they take with their coming mirrorless offering as if they DON"T push things to the limit they can't compete.

Although it is somewhat disappointing, it does seem there is a not-to-inconvenient way to do geo-tagging because the camera has bluetooth/wifi and snapbridge. So, with an Android or iPhone, you can get this pretty easily. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oaSbnv50Hs

All camera manufacturers like to push out data that will impress buyers, stating the 3000mm zoom and capability of 12,000mm optical zoom with "some IQ loss" is at least, stating the obvious. So if you're buying a camera to shoot your kids soccer game and make 6"x4" prints, then it's fantastic. In the real world, where this camera and the P900 fall down is when a larger print is wanted. I printed a friends photos from a P900, Had to run them through On1 software to get decent 11"x14" prints. 3000mm sounds fantastic until your customer asks for a larger print like 24" x 36" or bigger and you have to explain why you can't do that. Strictly a "for the fun of photography" camera. For a pro or semi pro, this is little more than a glorified spotting scope with a memory card.

Spending the design time and materials on pretty good glass and then sticking a cell phone size sensor behind it seems rather stupid, other than peeping toms and voyeurs who will buy this thing? Would it not have been better to put at least a 1 inch sensor in there and accept the reduced focal length?

FM1978 it has RAw...but the AF , if like the P900 isn't as fast as I'd like...plus the frame per second burst rate has such limited buffer...not an action camera...neither was the P900 , nor the P610 (which I owned and liked for many reasons, and hated for a few reasons. Panasonic , if they made one like this , would have faster DFD AF, HUGE internal buffer for shooting bursts of shots, WITHOUT the camera freezing/ locking up...for long time.

Still Nikon make history with worlds longest built in optical zoom lens camera. I.Q. , if not as good as P900...will amount to many of these on Ebay, me thinks.

EE-TV and Steven Blackwood. No, the P900 doesn't shoot RAW, nor does it have a hot shoe. My comment was and simply is, instead of a whole new monster camera that is the P1000, Nikon should have just updated the P900 model to include a hotshoe and the ability to shoot in RAW mode.

Thanks for your observations! But now, wouldn't the fact that looking at the results from a D7200 with an affordable 200-500 Nikkor "there isn't a huge difference" speak against a would-be 3000mm (eq.) superzoom, rather than to its favour?

I suppose so. Looking at nearly all the other shots, I think any DX camera would do better, and FX better still. I am one who always says I can never have enough reach, but 750mm equivalent on DX is pretty good. I think there are very few situations where 3000mm at f/8 would be useful.

I found out why pictures with horse are terrible.all pictures with fast shutter speed (about one over few hundreds of a second) are blurry. So the only down side of the camera I could find so far is loose of quality in fast shutter speeds, Other super zoom pictures but with slow shutter speed were good (about on over few tens of a second).

So when you are shooting outdoor bright day with this camera, to avoid fast shutter speed, use low ISO (about 100) and small aperture (bigger number)

The faster the shutter speed, the picture is less likely to be blurry from movement, on that thing you are right. But here the picture is not blurry but grainy and thats because not enough information got into the sensors receptors. The trees are so blurry they look like it was shot from a cheap cellphone or compact camera with maximum ISO.

We never had a 'Super-Zoom' with the P900 over the past 3 years. Nikon has worn that crown undisputed thus far. With the x83 Zoom of the P900 we never saw anything else pass the x60 mark so why would anything change now?

The Koala is excellent, the bird and the flowers are fine (ignoring photographer choice of focus). The moon sharpens up nicely, and greyscale I'd be happy with that shot. I'm really not sure why people expect DSLR quality out of a superzoom, unless they're being biased by the RRP. For a superzoom all those images are quite acceptable. You can only expect so much when you pixel peep.

BUT!!!

The horse riding images are TERRIBLE. They can be partly recovered in post (especially the contrast) but they're never going to be good images. The smudging and smearing is always going to make them look like they've been shot with a coke bottle lens smeared in vaseline. More like a $20 bargain phone on the throw out table at your supermarket than a camera attracting a steeper RRP than a mid range DSLR.

I suspect this camera sacrifices quality at the wide end to provide good results at higher zoom but some of those pictures are wide so something else is going on here.

I can only imagine how infuriating it would be trying to frame the moon on a tripod at 3000mm as the lens sags ever so slightly because the tripod socket is under the body. Maybe I'm wrong but I think the slightest sag would be hard to compensate for.

No too mention any flexibility in the tripod and tripod head itself!! Best option might be a regular tracking telescope mount where minor adjustments can be done without touching the camera or mount...

You must be viewing different images. The focus appears to be on the feather detail on the neck but the eye is acceptable. The outline of the head is not. But I don't think that's what the photo is suppose to demonstrate.

Obviously I can see that the focus is on the feathers... My point is that if the focus is very clearly in the wrong place, why would this be used as a promotional image? Anyone who looks at it immediately gravitates toward the head. The notion that this is the best they could come up with is concerning. At the very least it does nothing to showcase the camera's capabilities, which is the sole purpose of a promotional image.

wish more promo images were realistic in terms of what the average amateur's going to get. This image says "look at the incredible feather detail a birder can get", not "look at the wonderful photos a professional can produce". It does so without completely sacrificing focus on the eye. I'd be happy if I had taken that shot. Not happy enough to upload to a stock site but as a vacation snap it'd be fine and I'd definitely put it on social media.

Even if you'd focused on the eye, the outline of the bird wouldn't have been sharp.

Bottom line is I don't want to see unrealistically cherry picked photos taken by pros at their best. If the camera as focusing on the eye and hit the feathers we'd have a problem. I don't think that's the case.

Nice looking camera if I was in the market for a super zoom.If you are one of those that buys a d-slr, with say a 18-300mm lens, andnever swaps out lenses, this would be a good camera to have since it hasa lot of functionality, and a hot shoe. Or for traveling. But if you swap lensesa lot, like a lot of us do, depending on what we are shooting, I don't like the price. It's not a bad all in one, but I prefer swapping lenses.

Given the relatively compact nature of this camera one is well impressed with the reach it affords the user in bright conditions. My only minor complaint is that the young lady is not wearing a helmet when mounted on a horse. As a horse owner this is something to be discouraged.

@DPR. When you review this camera please do a comparison where you crop and upsample the same shot on the P900 and one of the 1" superzooms. Be interesting to see if the 1K beats upsampled shots from its competition.

Yeah, I can just about fill a 1080x1080 Instagram post with the moon with my RX10 IV. Anything more than that is asking too much. It's a great camera with great telephoto, but nothing like this kind of telephoto. They're really not in the same league.

Impressive zoom but not interested. Something with a 1 inch sensor would have been much more appealing to me. And getting sharp photos at 3000 mm is challenging with any equipment. Atmosphere alone is a problem.

3000mm is probably better described at about 45 arc-minutes of viewing angle. You're approaching the diameter of the moon in the night sky. f8 is pushing the limits of autofocus (few systems work at f11, I can't name one that has much effectiveness at all higher than that). I don't think we'll see too much longer.

I thought the P900 was a joke but still bought one for the sole purpose of documenting bird sightings while traveling. I've been quite surprised by some really great shots I've gotten with the camera. In the right circumstances, it can produce soft dreamy landscapes, and in bright light can manage decent bird shots.

Or not, since the camera due to the change of sensor size would be a lot bigger. Not mentioning the price due to all the glass.

Regarding sales, well, why dont you go in to youtube and write ”P900” and see how many hits you get. Then do the same with hour camera, and compare how many hits the two cameras get. With that you can imagine the popularity of the P900.

@TyphoonTW: To resolve on an APS-C sensor what the "3000mm" eq. lens resolves on the P1000 sensor, it wouldn't need a 3000mm eq. lens. I guess a decent 500 or 600mm lens would do. It might, of course, still need to be a bit larger than the P1000 lens, to be decent.

Instead of a 546 mm actual focal length, it would have to be about 2000 mm focal length. There are only very few non-mirror lenses with that focal length. There is the Nikon 1200-1700 mm f/5.6-8, that has a length of 888 mm and weighs 16 kg.

Of course Hubertus is right, to get equivalent images just use, eg, the Tamron 150-600 mm + APS-C (mirrorless) body, it would be a good size approximation. Except for the missing wide-angle part. The best approximation might be something like Nikon's 18-300 mm APS-C lens + APS-C body.

Or compromise and look at 1" sensor cameras that are somewhere in the middle between 1/2.3" and APS-C, like the Sony RX10 III or IV (24-600 mm equiv.).

I believe there actually is a market for a camera with a larger sensor and a lens equivalent of 1500-2000mm even if it would weigh 2-3 kilos. For example a 1 inch sensor with a 70-2000mm f2.8 - 5.0 lens. It should have a hot shoe and a big battery and be weather sealed and Wi-Fi and GPS and some 32 GB internal storage. Not a big seller but there is a market I am sure.

2000 mm equiv. on 1" would be 740 mm actual. At f/5, that would require an entrance pupil of 148 mm. Take a look at the Sigma 300-800 mm f/5.6, 8% longer focal length but 3.5% smaller entrance pupil, despite being FF and not 1", it probably would be comparable in size (since it only has to cover a much smaller zoom range, 2.7x vs 28x).

It has a length of over half a meter (544 mm), weighs 5.9 kg, and costs $6000. An entrance pupil of 148 mm (pretty much 800 mm f/5.6, 600 mm f/4 and 400 mm f/2.8 territory) and a focal length of 740 mm won't come in much below 5 kg (lightest 400 mm f/2.8 is about 3 kg, lightest 600 mm f/4 is 4 kg, lightest 800 mm f/5.6 is 4.6 kg) but that is for primes, zooms would add to that. The Sigma 300-800 mm f/5.6 is actually the cheapest of all those lenses.

So if you think there is a market for 50 cm, 5 kg, $6000, 1" camera, all the power to you. The closest you'd probably get to this is Nikon 1 body the Sigma 300-800 mm f/5.6 with an adaptor.

What makes me say that there is a market for a fully integrated bridge camera with a big sensor and a far reaching lens - even if it is very heavy - is precisely the products you mention. They are there because there is a market.

When I see a photographer taking pictures of surfers with a DSLR and a loong heavy lens on a tripod it convinces me further. A length of over half a meter and a diameter of more than I can imagine and a weight of more than I bother to lift, does not seem to scare a dedicated photographer who wants that shot. And yes a Nikon 1 camera with a lens twice the size of the Sigma 300-800mm 5.6 could be the model. But in an integrated bridge camera with weather sealing etc.

Be the way I lately saw a documentary with a guy taking pictures of elephants in the Burmese jungle with a 9x12 inch plate camera on a tripod. He had to make giant Photostats for an elephant exhibition at a Zoo. If you want the shot - you carry the gear - OK ?

The Nikon 1 system is essentially dead but it had/has a waterproof body that should still work for quite a while (don't know much about water-resistance of the Sigma 300-800 mm f/5.6).

The other route could be m43 as they have weather-sealed bodies and lenses, though nothing yet quite that long (800/840 mm equiv. is the max) and not sure how good the AF with adapted lenses (eg, Canon mount) is.

Nikon understands in this segment you have to offer something exceptional that rekindles buyers' imagination.

Yes, many camera pros may not use this, due to small sensor, lack of pixel-level sharpness. But this camera is designed with one single purpose and Nikon product team is showing they really understand who the consumer of this product line is and how to build a product around it.

A zoom that is worth using if you are at Essence Fest, as my wife was last week, where there is no ability to bring in an ILC (because of restrictions on "professional cameras") and would be cumbersome for my wife to use in any case. For her, the CoolPix we own did the job very well, with almost no softness and the flaws could be easily fixed in Capture One.

As hobbyists and professionals, we forget that most people aren't looking for an ILC. They just want a camera that does a good enough job and allows for sharing. In that context, an ILC is rarely the best tool for their needs.

@Hubertus Bigend: Doesn't matter because what we consider to be acceptable photos depends on our knowledge as well as our preferences. Given that many of the most-beloved photos in history have soft focus, either in the center or in the corners, there are some who will be perfectly fine with the Nikon's output at 3000m.

More importantly, the CoolPix isn't being marketed to you and I, the hobbyist and professional class. It is being marketed to the average person (who wants something a little better, though more-limited, than a smartphone) and the amateur who is getting into the hobby (who isn't ready to jump full-bore into ILCs for many different reasons). Chances are that the focus at 3000m will work for them, even if it doesn't work for us.

We need to keep perspective about what these cameras do and who are they doing things for.

All of that is not my point. My point is that what the manufacturer specifies is misleading ESPECIALLY for an "average person" who is less knowledgeable than us. And while the camera MAY work for someone, it may very well deceive and disappoint another one who took the numbers for what they promise.

@Hubertus Bigend It is only "misleading" to you because the images taken by the CoolPix at 3000m are "disappointing" to you. Since the camera does what Nikon says it does, it isn't misleading anyone.

If you just want to say that Nikon's offering isn't good enough to your liking, that is fine. You are entitled to your opinion. But arguing that something is "misleading" when that isn't so is rather dishonest.

No, it is not ME, it is not my being DISAPPOINTED (why should I be? I have one excellent camera I'm really happy with) , it is not my LIKING and it is not my OPINION. It is a camera specified at 16 MP with a lens that cannot, PHYSICALLY, resolve more than 1 MP at 3000mm (eq). You may find all that perfectly normal corporate behaviour (which it actually is, though of course it isn't honest), but it really is just as misleading as a DSL line specified at 16 Mbps that only delivers 1 Mbps when you'd need them.

While I love the idea of a convenient, massive zoom attached to a bridge camera, I am very disappointed with quality the "official" photo samples. They all look massively over-processed, almost as if the Photoshop "Dry Brush" filter has been applied to them. This suggests the lens cannot resolve very well (not too surprising given its over-ambitious focal length range), and this is being compensated for by some interpolation algorithm to produce sharp edges. Just download the full-size JPGs of any of the girl-with-horse photos, and look at them at 1:1 on your screen: the details are all smeary and painterly.

The smearing is not typical of JPG - the latter, when over used, produces nasty little 8x8 pixel boxes, with sharp edges, each containing smeared noise. This looks far more like one of those failed fractal compression algorithms.

The smearing looks like aggressive in-camera NR plus aggressive in-camera sharpening, to me. Contrasty, yet blobby; a bad combination. The full review will surely show us what this camera can actually do, though. The fact that it has a RAW mode helps a lot in terms of wringing the best from this lens/sensor combination; I imagine most people who are interested in buying a $1000 hyperzoom will want to shoot in RAW.

No matter the sensor size or the typical comments from pixel peepers, one thing is for sure: this camera is a very serious and versatile tool for all celebrities hunters photogs as well for quite a lot of people who want an affordable huge zoom for various reasons (from shooting new cars and bikes tested before production to front line reporting).We 've all seen printed pics in various mags and dailies in awfully bad quality from all kind of photo reporting. This cam can easily outperform these results even at 2x digital zoom shooting in A3 paper size or tabloid page size.In the hands of a skilled guy can deliver astounding results, that can be even more altered if properly PPed...

What do any of those products have to do with the P1000? The mirrorless announcements will probably be made at or immediately before a major trade show, such as Photokina in September, or CES or CP+ early next year. Likewise the other products you mentioned.

Those are just a few of the products that are more relevant to Nikons future survival and continued usage by their pro userbase than a p1000 trinket that is next to useless for serious work.

If the p1000 was basically the lens bolted onto a mobile phone for easy sharing with typical social edits stuck inside the body then that could have been a wet dream for the social media crowd but as it is... a FAIL.

Why do you assume everybody wants to do”serious work”. ,,, my god this is photography and supposed to a form of artistic impression OR just capturing special moments in time, this camera can expand your consciousness, I own some high end Nikon bodies and primes but also own a P900 and really enjoy the things it CAN do which the normal gear can not.

Consumer products are very relevant to Nikon's future survival, as that's where the large volumes are. Nikon would be a much smaller player in the camera market if they only catered to the pro userbase.

It's also strange to declare a product a "fail" before it's even released. From the manufacturer's point of view, a product fails if its sales are lower than expected. We know nothing about that yet. The P900 has probably been Nikon's bestseller among the Coolpix models, and that's why they are releasing a successor.

@revenant as i stated above the only camera in this segment that would get my money would be a good zoom (does not have to have 3000mm lol) connected to an android cell phone packaged into a ergonomic easy to use body.

Shoot the image/video, edit it in camera (snapseed etc.) and then share it wherever you want... would be a wet dream for all the social media wannabes.

At present its simply a placeholder product that will be pressured from below (cell) and from above (mirror/dslr).

They should have invested their time in bringing their mirror strategy sooner to market and maybe built a p1000 based on the mirror technology base but to match the price point... reuse of base tech to push manufacturing costs down.

Nikon has finite resources and it would be much better spent investing in future products and technologies.

So I compared the shot at 3000mm of the moon to one I took with 500 f4 + 2x TC on a DSLR and the difference was night and day, far far less detail with the Nikon and frankly horrible IQ, more like a water painting. There is no free lunch. Would have been better moving to a 1" sensor and sticking to say a 1200mm effective FL @ say f/5.6. Camera would have still been smaller most likely with far better IQ.

no. dont agree. moon is limited by atmospheric scintillation, in all cases when resolution is good enough. Compared to a Celestron 8 edgeHD + FF DSLR one can see more artefacts on P900, but the visible detail is similar.

1" with 1200mm would be huge! Most of the bridge of comparable size were only 30x zoom a few years back (25-750mm) and only spotting 1/2.3 censor. Compare to the 3000mm, 1200mm may seems small, but just 2 years back 24-1200mm is the largest superzoom out there.

The entire point of this camera is the huge zoom with tiny censor. If you want a 1" at comparable size, 750mm would probably be the limit

Rubbish, the 1" has about 5x the sensor area of the 2/3" and crop factor is about 2.5x smaller, and I've compensated by sticking to lens with almost 1/3rd the effective FL. Did you even look at how ridiculously long and large the P1000. Even if it were a bit bigger, given the massive improvements in IQ no one would care. You are still going to be about 1/5the size and weight of a DSLR with a 600 f/4+ 2x TC and about 1/10 the cost. This is the idea of this sort of camera, it's not supposed to be small, there are plenty of those out there already.

Although the theoretical resolution of this camera (with 1.3μm pixel and 539mm real focal length) is 206265 x 1.3 / 539 = 0.5 arc-seconds,this system will never resolve it.Physical aprerture is 539/8=67mm.According Dawes' limit, maximum resolving power of such lens will be:R=116/67=1.73 arc-seconds.It means that at 3000mm image will be really messy, and those 16Mpx image will look as 1,5Mpx maximum even at the best conditions.

It's interesting to compare the moon shot to a shot I took with A7RII + 100-400GMAt 400mm cropped to 100% you see more details than with the Nikon 3000mm eqiv.Yes I know it's a different league and price. And yet with almost X8 digital zoom for the 42mp Sony image it's still better.

How does that make sense to you? The A7Rm2 is a nice camera but it's resolution is a known limit with that massive a crop. A massive 7.5x crop factor to get you down to 3000mm cuts max resolution of your precious FF sensor down to a staggeringly small 0.75mp. Diffraction is going to cut the 16mp sensor on the P1000 to the bone but it should still resolve 2.4mp at f8.

That's too massive a crop. The actual sensor area you use on a FF sensor at that crop (7.5x) is smaller than the P1000's sensor.

EDIT: If you use a 2x converter on the 100-400, you're into diffraction limit range on your A7Rm2 as well at 42.4mp f11 and you still have a 3.75x crop to go. That should get to a similar 3000mm resolution but barely.

PURELY at 3000mm, this beats a lot of things. When it comes down to it, you're looking at aperture and the P1000 packs a decent 67mm. Your 100-400's largest aperture is 71mm. With enough teleconverters and cropping, aperture wins out as the limiting factor.

Disagree with your assessment as a "meh block of plastic" but I think the price tag is going to limit sales. Considering this is more than I pay for a DSLR and higher end kit lens, I think it's going to have to remain on the wish list and not be a fulfilled wish.

The image quality is terrible. If you're on the phone some may be acceptable. But if you're on a decent screen, even without any zoom, they just look almost out of focus and with an incredible lack of detail.

$1000 for a camera that can't take a decent picture? What's the point of having all that zoom if the images are unusable?

@Eric: Yes, but you don't need a huge big expensive superzoom camera pretending to offer 16 MP images with 3000mm equivalent reach to get an image that's better than no image at all. You could use a cheap entry-level DSLR or mirrorless with an affordable but decent telezoom and crop. While the specific ultra-long-distance telephoto image might not be better, all other images you'll make will be decent instead of just horrible.

While I like the extra zoom, and RAW, it is 50% heavier than the P900 and a different kind of product, and Nikon will continue to sell the P900 alongside the P1000. Personally I would like to see an updated P900, i.e. the same size and 83x zoom with Raw, 4K and perhaps some computational algorithms added as options for certain situations. It would be interesting to see the IQ that could be achieved with that!

You would hurt your back if you jumped with 1500mm on a 1" sensor, it will probably be larger and a few times heavier than this camera. Why people always response with "make that tiny bridge camera sensor 5 times bigger" while the zoom factor and size here is the most recent "state of the art" technology already. Right now the largest zoom on a tiny sensor any non-Nikon brand can produce is only 65X. Nikon is trying its best for the largest zoom-size ratio here. If they can make the zoom or the sensor any longer, they WILL! But nobody can for probably a few more years.

These kinds of cameras appearing on this site are just an opportunity for people to flaunt their silly sense of superiority. But, like phone cams, the joke's on those posters.

The only problem with the camera that is obvious is that, independent of what it does, it is bulky. Allowing for the bulk, it probably an excellent niche product. The P900 was also large, but not nearly so large as this, and was a great product if you didn't mind the size.

So you think the fact that the image quality is objectively horrible is not "a problem with the camera"? At least not one that people would be allowed to mention, and you think you are entitled to insult them personally, just because they did?

By the way, I don't feel superior in any way just because I can say that my 14 year-old 7 MP 1/1.7" compact camera I bought used and cheap produces significantly better images then this Nikon.

There are objective criteria for measuring image quality. Compact cameras made fifteen years ago would have been dismissed as terrible, if not actually unusable, back then on dpreview, if they'd been put to their test regime with results like this Nikon produces at all focal lengths.

@DamianFI: Your comment is completely beside every point there is in photography.

Say that again – just because great photographers shot great photos which were great in spite of their limited technical image quality, we now should all throw our good cameras away and shoot only with third-rate gear?

I have another thing for you. There have been many great photographers over the decades which were able to shoot great telephoto pictures with lowly film cameras and lenses which seldom reached or exceeded even 1000mm, let alone ones which could be easily carried. So shouldn't you adhere to your own faulted ideology there, too, and claim that when you cannot get good images with classic telephoto focal lengths, your portable 3000mm lens ain't going to help you?

I have a different brand late model travel zoom that covers from 24-720mm. From 500mm + it is very difficult to obtain a pic sharp enough for a fair 8 x 10. A slow lens, camera shake, noisy sensor and optical IQ all work against decent results except in full sun and a care. If you are just looking at pics on a small portable device, I suppose the results are OK. I usually restrict using the camera to about 400mm, which is where the lens should have finished with a stop faster. Between 24-400mm the IQ is decent for smaller prints and portable device viewing

I'd be tickled pink if that is true and if the claimed 5 stops of VR is actually realized at full zoom. The P900's VR was also reportedly excellent but in many reviews where they shot really distant objects a mile or more away, they used a tripod - something I almost never use, especially when travelling.

To paraphrase Ralph Nader: Unsharp at any speed (or focal length)? I can't understand why this has more than 12mp? At the long end the effective aperture (FF equiv.) is f/42.2. This explains the diifraction limited mush that the Expeed is not up to the task to clean up.

I am in full agreement. The pixels on the sensor are about 1.5 micron across.

You can't argue witb the laws of physics that say you need f/4 or lower to get an appropriate resolution. At f/8 you are really only getting 1/2 of the resolution which is equivalent to about 4 megapixels of useful data. This is obvious from their moon shot above. Nikon could have saved a lot of weight and expense by being more realistic with their design. It however will appeal to those who want the bragging rights.

Too bad that they had to expand the already excessive zoom power of its predecessor. That will not help the image quality. Perhaps never going beyond about 60% full zoom, would alleviate that problem. Glad to see they didn't put a touchscreen on it, but the viewscreen needs more resolution. Nice that the 16-MP sensor didn't get more useless pixels. The higher price will cut down on its sales, among the types who use such superzoom cameras. I would wait until thousands of others had bought it and shown its results. Sometimes attempts at expanding capabilities of successful previous models, go bad.

There are no users of the Nikon P1000 yet, other than a few who have pre-production models. I'm talking not about an existing model, but the upcoming one and questioning how that extreme zoom lens will actually perform.

I'm totally aware that the P1000 doesnt ship unti September but I didnt think I needed to spell out that I was referring to the existing P900 which gets many positives in the Nikon Coolpix forum from folk who use it rather than iust beef about the spec.

This camera is all about marketing. It's intended to hook new customers into doing telephoto photography, so lots of them will then buy a better camera with a better telephoto lens to get better quality pictures. Nikon makes more profits selling these better cameras and better lenses. Nikon or any other corporation making more profits means I make more money in my 401K. I love these kind of cameras. It's a good thing none of you pixel peepers are CEO's

Please invent this mode. It would save astronomers a fortune since they would not have to build their telescopes on high, remote mountains just to get above the optical distortion of the atmosphere. No need for the cost of putting the Hubble or Web scopes into orbit.

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